The Illustrator ~ 3rd Edition!

**abbews** · March 23, 2011, 12:07 PM

Introduction
Welcome dear readers to the 3rd edition of the Illustrator!

Last week Total War: Shogun 2 was released, something that most of us have waited a long time for.
To celebrate this we have two articles about Shogun 2! First off we have a splendid Shogun 2 Art review written by Louis Lux. Secondly, Maяcel has created 75 Shogun 2 avatars and 19 Shogun 2 signatures for you to use in the Freebie of the Month!

Aanker has started his own article series, The Creative Quill, with his own thoughts about Graphics and art in general. Make sure to read it!

KDK shows us some more excellent tutorials in his article. Make sure to improve your skills!

cedric37 is featuring me in this edition of the Artist's Lounge. A very interesting read I guarantee you

!

Sadly Nanny de Bodemloze is ill and hasn't been able to do the Breaking Down of a Video or the VOTM roundup. Speedy recover mate! I, LuckyLewis and Killerbee are here like usual covering the GC and the POTW & UESW.

Now serve yourself your favourite drink, sit back and enjoy this edition!

- abbews

Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Competition Rundown
2. The Artist Lounge
3. The Creative Quill
4. Tutorial Wrap Up
5. Total War: Shogun 2 Art Review
6. Freebie of the Month

1. Competition Rundown

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Competition Rundown

Welcome to the summary of the POTW/UESW competitions here in the Illustrator! Killerbee and Luckylewis are here to provide the rundown on what our talented screenshooters have been up to this month!

POTW 229 & UESW 132

POTW 229 was won by ♠ Marshal Beale ♠, his first win in the POTW and a wonderful one. It is always nice to see images win that aren't full of action now and then, and to get a winning image without all the explosions and smoke is quite the achievement itself!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Naxzul666 was the winner in UESW 132 with a stunning image of the American Civil War, taking the snapshot down at the legs allowed him to get a clear shot of a gruesome bayonet kill. Great work!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

See here for the winner thread

POTW 230 & UESW 133

POTW 230 was won by Naxzul666 with a magnificent shot of Scottish Highlanders in a square formation. You wouldn't want to mess with these lads.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Naxzul666 was also the winner in UESW 133. A double slam in the POTW/UESW is a fantastic achievement and he clearly deserved it with a shot of a brave Frenchman charging towards the Highlanders, likely those featured in his winning POTW shot.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

See here for the winner thread

POTW 231 & UESW 134

POTW 231 was won by the glorious TheatroN. His excellent talents in getting the money shot and skill in editing never fail to impress. TheatroN also won a silver medal for this entry, 9 wins in total now.There is no doubt he is a great contributor to the competitions, perhaps the first gold medal will be in his hands one day.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

UESW 134 ended tied with two beautiful shots by Voh Koh and Nanny de Bodemloze. Voh Koh showed all of us a perfect naval shot with the flames claiming a ship on a lovely moonlit night. On the otherhand, Nanny de Bodemloze's Civil War picture was crowded with smoke, cleverly capturing the essence of war, an impressive shot.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

See here for the winner thread

POTW 232 & UESW 135

POTW 232 was won by Neige Noire, one of my favourites in the past few weeks, this outstanding shot of the Crusaders was a splendid victory for the POTW regular. This was his 3rd win, and he was deservedly rewarded a Bronze POTW medal as a result. Congratulations!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

The impressive Voh Koh returned to form in UESW 135 with yet another Empire shot, it is lovely to see that from Rome to Shogun 2, shots from either game continue to win across the series. Keep it up Voh Koh!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

See here for the winner thread

POTW 233 & UESW 136

POTW 233 was won by Worm with a great Rome shot against the armoured Elephant beast. A lovely shot that clearly shows that Rome is going strong! He is back to his best.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Ltflak was the victor in UESW 136. His shot of a mounted Samurai Warrior with a raised Katana was our first winning shot from Shogun 2: Total War. Ltflak is quite the screenshooter and video-maker, and we look forward to seeing what his next winning entry will look like!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

See here for the winner thread

In the next Illustrator article, the Shogun 2 images will most certainly take center stage as our entrants take their debug cameras, print screens and editing skills across to lovely Japan.

Picture of the Week (POTW) & Video of the Month (VOTM) Leaderboard and Simplified Archive

GC #107 [The four seasons] Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. A never ending cycle.

The winner of this theme is Maяcel with this illustrative piece:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

The Four Seasons are usually illustrated with a tree. Most often a single tree in different conditions depending on season. Caius Antonius used this concept in a very creative way:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Vote thread can be viewed here.

GC #108 [Theatre]

The winner of this dramatic theme was KDK with this piece.

The classical theatre faces focused in a fiery effect.

One entry that caught my eye was Legless Lannes'.

The feeling in this piece is indescribable. It all adds up with the excellent colour combination and focus. An amazing piece.

Vote thread can be viewed here.

GC #109 [South America]
The winner of this GC was xHerzoGx De Bodemloze with the following piece.

The Rio Statue featured with maps of South America in a cloudy yet highly saturated environment.

One interesting entry was Killerbee's, even thought it isn't directly associated to South America. But Indians exist in South America as well

A lone Indian guarding the steppes. The submission is full of harmony yet the blood adds a sense of disorder. The sepia effect gives the piece a more authentic feel.

Vote thread can be viewed here.

GC #110 [Candy] This GC really proves that the Babe trick can be defeated. A lot of babes in this GC but only one with candy (at least without a babe

).

The winner of this GC was Turambar and death after a tiebreaker. Turambar and death won the GC with the following piece:

M&M's with Darth Vader, what can go wrong? A great deal of humour in this piece.

Worm fought the tiebreaker against Turambar and death with this piece.

A babe trick. But a very good one with great colours and smudging.

Vote thread.
Tiebreaker thread.

GC #111 [Favourite Band] I'm disappoint. No entries depicting Bruce Springsteen and the E-street band. But this GC produced some great entries nonetheless.

The winner of this GC was Caius Antonius with this Daft Punk piece.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

xHerzoGx De Bodemloze made an interesting piece (I don't have clue what band that is).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Vote thread can be viewed here.

GC #112 [Discovery]
Discovery can be interpreted in many different ways. As always the imagination is the limit.

The Discovery GC winner is Worm with this hilarious piece.

Is this based on Worm's own experiences(joke)? Nonetheless, it's a truly hilarious piece! The beard could've been better though, but I guess there isn't that many references to use ().

xHerzoGx De Bodemloze made a submission about the discovery of worlds.

The Discovery space shuttle, a fiery distant planet and old maps of America.

Vote thread can be viewed here.

GC #113 [Spring]
As the cherry blossoms, the ice melts and the golden winner arises.

For the first time in GC history the golden medal was awarded to abbews after winning the Spring GC with the following piece.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

xHerzoGx De Bodemloze tried the love trick, after seeing that the babe trick didn't work.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Vote thread can be viewed here.

2. The Artist Lounge

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Presentation of a workshop/artist ~ Abbews

Introduction

Introduction

In this third Illustrator, we will know more about one of the current masters of the Graphics Workshop: abbews.
Together, we will take a tour on his workshop.

But what is the true meaning of abbews? Listen to abbews himself:

"Well, the story behind abbews goes back in time (quite far for me, not so far for you ). My real name is Albin and therefore I got the nickname 'abbe'. While registering on a Swedish social site several years ago, 'abbe' was busy and I had to pick an other name. Therefore I choosed 'abbews' and I've carried that name on all sites and games from that time to today. "

I parry you never suspected it? I personally thought this was in reference to the Sweden music band "Abba".

About the artist

About the artist:
There would be lots to say about abbews since his name is tightly linked to the life of the Graphics Workshop and he opened his workshop a year and a half ago. From the first page you can judge of the quality of his work.
Here is some nice sample:

About the artist's work

About the artist's work:
abbews work makes a good use of image editing skills and generally original ideas. Like on this sub:

This one is actually his favourite sig. It only got appreciation from Giovi, but he still think it's one of the best sigs he has done, if not the best. It has an interesting story behind it too... but abbews did not let me know

Although personally i find this sig to be one of the best (if not the best) i have ever seen in the Graphics Workshop. The colours are simply godly !

He also demonstrates some good photography skills, like shown on this sub on Beauty. Here's the definition of Beauty by abbews:

The artist also tried himself in loading screens, here some loading screen for the an imaginative mode "Robin Hood" (I guess the purpose of this mod if it existed would be to shoot the sheriff).

Loading Screen

Note the originality of the logo, incorporating an arrow in it. Too bad that abbews do not make more modding stuff, I'm quite sure i could find a way to hire him on my mod.

abbews also started to use a tablet and while not at the level of other artists like Aanker or Marcel, he has made good progress with it, as you can see here:

Flying Fortress

I personally feel he could invest more time in drawing through the tablet because he shows good potential. But photo manipulation is so much easier.

Conclusion

Conclusion:

abbews has been striving for the Graphics Workshop's gold medal, awarded for winning 15 Graphics Competitions. He is now the only one to have won this prestigious prize. It seems that nothing could have stopped him from getting this award first into the whole history of TWC. Well done abbews.

3. The Creative Quill

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The Creative Quill
Hello there, Illustrator readers!

Starting with this issue of the excellent Illustrator publication, offering an in-depth look at the mysterious creative workshops here on TWC, I - Aanker - will be offering my views and thoughts on the Graphic side of the community in a series of articles known as the Creative Quill.

The Art of Signatures

They appear at the bottom of every post, are distributed freely around the TWC community - especially in the modding forums - and very often subconciously offer our mind a picture of the poster. Even so, the very basic methods of making a good signature are unknown to many: partly because few know exactly what they want to achieve with their signature, and partly because some don't know how to carry their message through.

Before we start looking at ways of making a good signature, it's important to know what kind of signature is referred to here. The intention of this article is not to delve deep into the methods of making the perfect written signature, or how to combine custom user bars to achieve the best effect (though some might find the suggestions here useful for that purpose). The kind of signature that we'll explore is the basic image signature, featuring an image that to some extent covers the 'sig field'.

Knowing this, it's time to take a quick look at what a signature can accomplish. To most, a signature is a simple way of carrying forward a message - the purpose of this message can, then, vary wildly. Mod signatures often aim to attract viewers, and the image itself is commonly a link leading to the download section of the mod, while 'personal' signatures generally tend to offer a portrait of the poster by including some well-chosen quote or phrase. The difference may seem marginal at first, but this is comparable to the quite obviously deep divide between company advetisement and personal choice of clothes.

The main purpose of a mod signature has always been, is, and should always be to attract attention. Mod players roaming the forums with signatures of the mod will inevitably attract viewers to the thread or subforum where the screenshots and download links are - provided that the signature is visible. There are a good number of ways to make such a signature visible, too: contrast (both colour and shade), lighting (strong light sources) and the text that nearly always accompanies a mod signature all play part to make the initial impression on the unsuspecting forum reader.

In the first case, the balance between a striking piece of art and a headache is easily shifted towards the latter without a good artistic touch of shaded hues and sparse use of saturation.

Lighting is a fairly easy tool to use when wanting to make an impression, but cheap Photoshop 'lens flare' effects may turn down the viewer; it's usually worth the effort of making these things yourself.

Text is also a quite handy method of catching someone's attention - imprinting a huge '

' (yes, that 'wub' is intentional) over the entire signature might be less recommended - but a catchy, capitalized message is able to interest most readers on first glance. Make sure to include a second, smaller line to tip the potential mod viewer into clicking the link! Also, pay attention to spelling errors, those are commonly the bane of what could else have been a good text line.

Isn't it catchy? Although not a mod signature, still a very fine piece of advertisement: notice the excellent use of light and contrasts to attract attention. It's a piece of eye candy.

The personal signature is often meant to leave the reader with an impression, an image of the poster. Here, a striking image is still key (and could well suffice on its own), but it shouldn't be as forceful as that of the mod signature. Remember: unless you want to be taken as an attention alcoholic, stay on the edge between the eye-catching and the sublime with your personal signature. As for text, your favourite historical/movie quote will do fine, an additional, smaller text may finish up the imprint, but isn't necessary. Good examples of such personal signatures can be found below:

It still attracts a lot of attention, but it's not screaming out the message to the viewer, as is the case with the previously provided signature. It finely creates a virtual portrait of the character of the poster.

Another, more classical example. Notice the soft blending of the colours, and the 'sublime' yet effective colour theme in general.

Before we wrap this, rather short, article up, I'd like, once again, to point out just how important it is to think about these things before making a signature. The signature challenges the avatar on how it portrays the poster, and is one of the basic elements that is remembered as part of the poster.

Cheers,
Aanker

The opinions expressed are solely those of TWC member Aanker.

4. Tutorial Wrap Up

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5. Total War: Shogun 2 Art Review

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Shogun Total War 2 Art Review
The overall theme for the graphics in Shogun 2 total war is the blending of traditional Japanese art and the modern 3D graphics. The use of traditional paintings was already hinted in the beginning stages of the game's promotion, and they're being used as loading screens in the demo. We also see an example of this blending in the campaign map's Fog of War that takes the shape of a Japanese style map, that's the first time a total war game does that and it's quite interesting. The designers' objective is really to take the player back to that time and experience ancient Japan and their culture.

I'll walk through some of the element of the 2d art and explore how well they work:

The campaign map: Like I said the transition from the vivid 3D landscape to the 2D map is successful but some other 2D elements are not. When you select a settlement you get this yellow/beige brush stroke with a weird shadow that just looks ugly, the color and brush are even more of a miss considering the beige highlight the region gets when selected. We also have the banner that I wish was bit more vivid.

what is that?

The interface: The menu interface looks good and is easy to navigate. The information in the campaign map is divided into several modules and it's easy to navigate through them too, there is the recurrent issue of having to go through several windows to manage your territory but for a complex strategy game it's something we're willing to work with. One thing I disliked about the campaign interface was the lack of color, most of it is gray and it also lacks a bit of texture, overall kind of boring. I can see that they we're going for a more soothing atmosphere but a color here and there wouldn't hurt.

Portraits: Something interesting they did here is that we get the animated portrait in the campaign map and also the cool painted portrait in the army tab and family tree. Just another example of the 2D and 3D graphics coming together.

Great looking unit cards.

Icons, unit cards and event pictures: They are all Japanese Paintings, which I think is great and sets it apart from other total war games. It's nice to see the effort that went into it (6 months spent just learning the art style!). The upside of the low key interface graphics is that the Japanese art pops a bit more. One thing though, it would be nice to have some way to visualize the 3D renders of the units so we can have a good look at them.

Shogun 2 delivers plenty of eye candy

Clan symbols: I'm not surprised here, total war games don't normally make very interesting faction symbols, they're quite simple. The average TWC artist can make much more appealing symbols, like the ones made by Cedric37 for his Japanese mod. The simplicity of the symbols probably stem for the need to easily read them and quickly identify them, which is not always the case with more extravagant symbols.

Shogun 2 symbols

Cedric37's symbols

Loading screens: Very fitting and simple loading screens, making use of the gorgeous japanese style paintings made for the game. The map on the battle loading screen I find very odd mainly because it's in perspective.

In conclusion, 2D art was never really the strong suit of the total war games but they still managed to blend the 2D and 3D elements really well in Shogun 2 total war and deliver the best art among TW games. In large part due to the extensive use of the amazing traditional Japanese art.

6. Freebie of the Month

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**M D** · March 23, 2011, 12:17 PM

Wow...

**Mega Tortas de Bodemloze** · March 23, 2011, 12:28 PM

Double wow + extraordinary...Bravo!!...

**Worm** · March 23, 2011, 12:34 PM

Awesome work guys

Is this based on Worm's own experiences(joke)?

I've actually experienced something similar, but I would like to forget it as soon as possible

**Louis Lux** · March 23, 2011, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by Worm

I've actually experienced something similar, but I would like to forget it as soon as possible

Great work guys, another solid edition.

**Juvenal** · March 23, 2011, 01:53 PM

Congratulations on another beautiful and varied edition of the Illustrator!

It is wonderful to see a good solid team coming together to craft the Illustrator into a regular member of the TWC publications family.

**cedric37** · March 23, 2011, 04:54 PM

Great reading

**apple** · March 23, 2011, 08:00 PM

Splendidly work guys.

Also I love how you guys found my old tutorial from one of the old dusty places of TWC.

**MorganH.** · March 24, 2011, 01:35 AM

Congratulations on the 3rd edition guys;a very awesome and entertaining read;very nice!

**Aanker** · March 24, 2011, 03:55 AM

Nice work folks, it looks great!

**megalitho** · March 24, 2011, 05:48 AM

very interesting, good work! I hope to see Nanny´s "Breaking down a video" in the fourth edition of the illustrator.

By the way: Is there something like a "mass-rep-function" on TWC?